We may be just days away from the release of the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and I’m sure that many are starting to think about this whole bootloader unlocking process. As a Nexus device, the bootloader does not have to be bypassed or hacked like you have probably had to do to your last couple of phones. It’s a developer device that is made to be open. You can unlock your G-Nex within a couple of minutes as long as you have all of the right tools in place.
To get you prepared, we have put together a set of instructions that should cover the whole process. The big trick here is to get the Android SDK installed and to have it recognize your device through adb. Once you have done that, you should be able to unlock your phone with 2 simple commands and a quick volume press on the device.
And we are telling you about this now, because unlocking the bootloader of your Nexus should be step 1 before you get into customizing it to your like, downloading your favorite apps, etc. Unlocking the bootloader wipes your phone clean, so you will want to take care of this step from the get-go instead of having to start over on your phone down the road. Once your phone is unlocked, you won’t have to worry about unlocking it ever again.
So your homework until the phone arrives, is to check out the first 7 steps that we have below to get your Windows computer all set up for adb through the SDK. If you can get your phone to reboot to the bootloader by typing “adb reboot bootloader” then you should be all set. Your current Android phone should work just fine in getting this all set up.
Ready?
[h=3]Instructions:[/h]

*Windows only.
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1. Most important piece to this, is getting the Android SDK set up properly. [Instructions]

This can be one of the most difficult things to get set up, however, you cannot go forward without the SDK and adb set up and working. The instructions we linked should get you setup. Once the SDK is installed, you can move on to step 2.
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2. Place a fastboot.exe file in your SDK/Tools (or Platform-Tools) folder (same as your adb.exe file) if it is not there already. [Download]

*You may also need to move AdbWinApi.dll into the same folder as your adb.exe and fastboot.exe if you are running into issues. I believe in the latest SDK, that everything defaults to SDK/Platform-Tools rather than SDK/Tools. Just depends on the version you are using. The big thing, is to get adb.exe, fastboot.exe, and AdbWinApi.dll into the same folder.
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11. Using the volume keys, highlight “Yes” and then press the power button to select it.
12. Your bootloader will now be unlocked.

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13. Your phone will factory reset itself and reboot.
14. You are now operating with an unlocked Galaxy Nexus.
[h=3]Questions:[/h] [h=4]-Can I still receive OTA updates after unlocking the bootloader?[/h] -Answer: Yes. Your phone really does not change at all when you unlock the bootloader. You will still receive updates from Google. Now, if you start putting on custom recoveries and rooting, you may run into issues with receiving OTA updates. The good news is that Google usually releases the system image files for their Nexus phones which makes it a breeze to go back to stock for updates.

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If you run into issues along the way, be sure to drop them in the comments and we will all do our best to help you get through them. The SDK portion will be the most difficult, but there are countless resources out there to get you fully up and working in that department. Once the SDK is ready to go, this really only takes about 5 minutes.

Honestly I wish the new methods and easier methods were never found. It was much better back when rooting was hard and people tended to shy away. Only people who had faith in their skills would try to complete it, and people barely ever bricked their phone.

Honestly I wish the new methods and easier methods were never found. It was much better back when rooting was hard and people tended to shy away. Only people who had faith in their skills would try to complete it, and people barely ever bricked their phone.

Click to expand...

Ahhh, the old "I'm better because I can follow a tutorial" argument. The only thing one clicks have done is saved time.

And very, very, very few people actually brick their phones (stuck in bootloader, bootloops, etc. are not bricks). And there's certainly no correlation with the availability of one click root scripts. If anything, they prevent people from fouling things up.

Ahhh, the old "I'm better because I can follow a tutorial" argument. The only thing one clicks have done is saved time.

And very, very, very few people actually brick their phones (stuck in bootloader, bootloops, etc. are not bricks). And there's certainly no correlation with the availability of one click root scripts. If anything, they prevent people from fouling things up.

Click to expand...

When did I ever say I'm better than anyone? I know near nothing on the grand scheme of all of android. The only people "better" than any of us are the devs. And literally everyone is (should?) be able to follow a tutorial. But one click root has done more than save time. We have an entire rescue squad now because people are "bricking" their phones. Theres hundreds of people asking the same things, giving the same steps they did, and RS has to give the same answers every time. From your join date I can tell you weren't here way back before, but if you care enough go look at the archives. People barely ever hurt their phone. Instead of going, "I don't really understand what root or romming means, but who cares, I can just click one button and have it work!", people would know they weren't capable of doing it themselves. Does that mean they shouldn't root/rom? Of course not, you can talk to someone you know and have them explain everything and show you. One Click and other scripts DO create more "bricked" phones then there would be without. Thats not an opinion.

And yes, I used brick in a way I shouldn't. But really, thats one of the things you choose to debunk what I said with? Really...? I used quotes this time, happy? :dry:

Because the influx of problem threads has nothing to do with the explosion of the Android user base... More users, more will have problems. The problem with your argument is mistaking correlation for causation.

Sorry for derailing the thread, pc. Thanks for the post. Should come in handy. My upgrade isn't until the 23rd though, unfortunately.

Glad to see this didn't turn uncivilised, it's always a touchy subject when discussing One-Clicks versus adb pushing and rooting. I for one think it's more useful to use the command line for the simple facts that it is more fun, if you pay attention to what you are doing you learn what is going on to some extent, in learning what is going on you can correct mistakes if you make them, it breaks down the process into steps that don't require a person to wait and have patience and "let the computer do its thing".

One-Clicks have their place and let more people with less knowledge have access to a rooted device, but that does mean that there is a correlation between looping devices and One-Clicks. If they were never released then less people would root = less looping devices and hence less need for a rescue squad. Statistically speaking it is correlated and significant if looking at it from a pure numbers standpoint. (Sorry, just finished a semester of stats)

Anyway, back on topic, thanks for posting this up, I haven't used the trusty old adb commands in a while since my D1 is at the edge of its life.

Hopefully, the GN will release this week and I can turn the D1 into my alarm clock/USB thumb drive.

I am not against one-clicks in fact I first got into it thanks to a simplified form in sholesmod. With that said it would be better in the long run for people to atleast know what the script is doing and know about adb. This will help people understand what is happening and take their time before rushing into anything. Please keep it civil the thread is meant to share knowledge.

Glad to see this didn't turn uncivilised, it's always a touchy subject when discussing One-Clicks versus adb pushing and rooting. I for one think it's more useful to use the command line for the simple facts that it is more fun, if you pay attention to what you are doing you learn what is going on to some extent, in learning what is going on you can correct mistakes if you make them, it breaks down the process into steps that don't require a person to wait and have patience and "let the computer do its thing".

One-Clicks have their place and let more people with less knowledge have access to a rooted device, but that does mean that there is a correlation between looping devices and One-Clicks. If they were never released then less people would root = less looping devices and hence less need for a rescue squad. Statistically speaking it is correlated and significant if looking at it from a pure numbers standpoint. (Sorry, just finished a semester of stats)

Anyway, back on topic, thanks for posting this up, I haven't used the trusty old adb commands in a while since my D1 is at the edge of its life.

Hopefully, the GN will release this week and I can turn the D1 into my alarm clock/USB thumb drive.

Click to expand...

One-clicks do have their place. There have been times when I updated or when back to stock for warranty issues and when I got my new device the one click was faster. With that said it does not hurt for people to learn adb. It really isnt that hard and by having an idea what is going on you can pick up if something goes wrong with a script. I remember a one click script that kept stalling at 50%. Instead of waiting on the dev to get back to me I was able to open the command line and just finish it.

One-clicks do have their place. There have been times when I updated or when back to stock for warranty issues and when I got my new device the one click was faster. With that said it does not hurt for people to learn adb. It really isnt that hard and by having an idea what is going on you can pick up if something goes wrong with a script. I remember a one click script that kept stalling at 50%. Instead of waiting on the dev to get back to me I was able to open the command line and just finish it.

Click to expand...

100% agree with you. Knowing what is happening to your device even if you are running a script is a good thing to have knowledge of. I personally won't use one unless I write it myself for the simple fact that I don't like letting the computer "do its thing". That might sound snooty or elitist or whatnot, but it's just the fact that sometimes software loses its mind or another process interrupts a line of code or a call to something and things can go downhill quickly, and I would rather not take that chance with a phone.

One-Clicks have their place and let more people with less knowledge have access to a rooted device, but that does mean that there is a correlation between looping devices and One-Clicks. If they were never released then less people would root = less looping devices and hence less need for a rescue squad. Statistically speaking it is correlated and significant if looking at it from a pure numbers standpoint. (Sorry, just finished a semester of stats)

Click to expand...

Again, correlation is not tantamount to causation. Plus you make a couple of really hard to quantify assumptions. You just had stats? You should know better.

But let's look at it, from a pure numbers standpoint, if you will . Android sales were ~5.5 million units in Q1 2010. Last quarter? 60.5 million. I'd say there's probably a stronger correlation with the increase in overall users.

I am not against one-clicks in fact I first got into it thanks to a simplified form in sholesmod. With that said it would be better in the long run for people to atleast know what the script is doing and know about adb. This will help people understand what is happening and take their time before rushing into anything. Please keep it civil the thread is meant to share knowledge.

100% agree with you. Knowing what is happening to your device even if you are running a script is a good thing to have knowledge of. I personally won't use one unless I write it myself for the simple fact that I don't like letting the computer "do its thing". That might sound snooty or elitist or whatnot, but it's just the fact that sometimes software loses its mind or another process interrupts a line of code or a call to something and things can go downhill quickly, and I would rather not take that chance with a phone.

Click to expand...

The devs that code scripts do a good job. With that said, scripts do fail and I dont know how many times people have panicked because of it and they dont know what to do.

Again, correlation is not tantamount to causation. Plus you make a couple of really hard to quantify assumptions. You just had stats? You should know better.

But let's look at it, from a pure numbers standpoint, if you will . Android sales were ~5.5 million units in Q1 2010. Last quarter? 60.5 million. I'd say there's probably a stronger correlation with the increase in overall users.

Round and round we go.

Click to expand...

Very true, but you are also working with one glaringly incorrect assumption; One-Clicks did not come out last quarter. In fact they came relatively shortly after the adb method because they were just scripts. Anyway, we're both using a few logical fallacies, so I sit corrected. I still stand by the fact that One-Clicks opened up the ability to root to more people (which I think is a good thing) and therefore led to more looping devices that needed rescue services.

And yes, I am very much having fun. I enjoy engaging in intellectual conversation, something that is oh so woefully absent on these here internets for the most part (not really point at the community of these forums)

Very true, but you are also working with one glaringly incorrect assumption; One-Clicks did not come out last quarter. In fact they came relatively shortly after the adb method because they were just scripts. Anyway, we're both using a few logical fallacies, so I sit corrected. I still stand by the fact that One-Clicks opened up the ability to root to more people (which I think is a good thing) and therefore led to more looping devices that needed rescue services.

And yes, I am very much having fun. I enjoy engaging in intellectual conversation, something that is oh so woefully absent on these here internets for the most part (not really point at the community of these forums)

Click to expand...

Ok, then let's put it another way. Would you agree that an 800+% uptick in "my phone won't boot" threads over the past year or so sounds accurate?

First off I just want to say thank you for posting these instructions. I have a GN reserved at the local VZW store and thanks to this thread I'll have an unlocked bootloader tomorrow evening without much trouble.

I rooted my D2 the "old fashioned way" and I think that helps in a sense to realize the gravity of what you're doing with the phone. After you go through that process it is no longer just a little old phone, it's yours, if that makes any sense. I could have one-clicked it but I wanted to know the process in more depth because that fosters a deeper understanding of what you're doing. Since I also make a hobby of modifying cars, I would relate it to someone building their own racecar vs taking it to a shop, ordering from a menu and getting the end result without actually doing anything other than coming up with the money to pay for what you wind up with. For me, I took great satisfaction from the fact that I was able to root it myself and didn't need someone else to write a script to have what I ended up with. Yes, I followed a tutorial but just like tonight, it's not just following a recipe like you're making a chocolate cake, you still have to figure things out on your own and put it all together to make it work in the end.

I'm rambling but I guess my point is that I like to see that I accomplished something without having someone else do every bit of the work for me. Yea, I didn't write the instructions and I wouldn't have been able to do what I did without your help, but is that really as easy as ordering up an app from the market? Not really.

Anyway, thanks again for the post, it was immensely helpful and hopefully tomorrow I can check back on this thread from my VZW GN

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